Statistics on Violence against API Women

Gender Violence against API Women

Domestic Violence

41 – 61% of Asian women report experiencing physical and/or sexual violence by an intimate partner during their lifetime.1 This is higher than the rates in a national study reported by Whites (21.3%), African Americans (26.3%), Hispanics of any race (21.2%), people of mixed race (27.0%), and American Indians and Alaskan Natives (30.7%), and Asians and Pacific Islanders (12.8%).2

The low end of the range is from a study by A. Raj and J. Silverman, Intimate partner violence against South-Asian women in Greater Boston Journal of the American Medical Women’s Association. 2002; 57(2): 111-114. The high end of the range is from a study by M. Yoshihama, Domestic violence against women of Japanese descent in Los Angeles: Two methods of estimating prevalence. Violence Against Women. 1999; 5(8):869-897.

Tjaden P, Thoennes N. Extent, Nature, and Consequences of Intimate Partner Violence: Research Report. Washington, DC: National Institute of Justice and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; 2000.

Domestic Violence-Related Homicide

In a six-year period, 160 cases in Asian families resulted in 226 fatalities, of which 72% were adult homicide victims, 10% were child homicide victims, and 18% were suicide deaths.

68% of victims were intimate partners (current, estranged, or ex-partners), of which 111 were women and 14 were men.

83% of homicide perpetrators were men, 14% were women, 3% unknown.

Children were the second largest group of victims, and the parents of wives and girlfriends were the third largest group.

In a review of 160 Asian homicide cases, 22 children were killed. Of the 63 non-fatal child victims for whom information was available, 60 were either on site when the homicides occurred, survived an attempted homicide, were eye or ear witnesses to a maternal homicide, or discovered the bodies.

Domestic Violence in API Homes

Domestic violence occurs in all populations regardless of race, ethnicity, culture, class, faith, immigration status, age, education, gender identity, or sexual orientation; as do the socio-cultural, linguistic, economic and political barriers that influence help-seeking. Hence, the magnitude of the problem may be considerably greater than available data indicate.

Facts & Stats: Domestic Violence in Asian, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Homes raises awareness about the experiences of battered women; counters denial about the problem; emphasizes the need for socio-culturally effective prevention and intervention; and serves to guide future research and inform public policy.